During the 12/21/2022 Common Council meeting, Mayor Woodford presented a Certificate of Appreciation to retiring Chief of Police Todd Thomas. Below is a transcription of the mayor’s statement of appreciation and Chief Thomas’ acceptance speech.
Mayor Woodford: Todd L. Thomas, You were sworn in as chief of the Appleton Police Department in 2015, 30 years after beginning your law enforcement career as an Appleton community service officer in 1985. You took command of the APD during a tumultuous period for the department and at a time of generational turnover.
Amid rapid and significant social change and upheaval, you provided steady guidance for your department and the community, emphasizing a measured, rational, professional approach. Under your leadership the department has built on its legacy of proactivity, adding a behavioral health officer, victim services officer, two additional canine officers, a facility therapy canine, a wellness program, and you restored the department’s chaplaincy program. Additionally, you led the development of a partnership to pilot a co-response model with an embedded clinical therapist. Your work to enhance the facilities and the equipment of APD personnel rely on every day has also paid dividends, particularly efforts to modernize the vehicle fleet and ensure protective equipment is readily available whenever needed.
A hallmark of your service as chief has been your emphasis on people, those served by the Department as well as those who make up the Department itself. You’ve taken pride in cultivating leadership and hiring and promoting for excellence at all levels. In doing so, you’ve also worked to foster an environment where creativity, good humor, and passion for the work and the people APD serves to very good effect. You strive to educate the community on the work of the APD, and you’ve demonstrated an openness to input and a willingness to adjust to best meet the needs of the community.
Guided and bolstered by your faith, you have dedicated yourself to the service of others. This has included your efforts to support departments and colleagues throughout the region and state in the wake of critical incidents, line of duty deaths, and suicide. Your quiet dedication to helping others navigate through darkness and difficulty is widely recognized and appreciated.
On the occasion of your retirement from the Appleton police department, we express our sincere gratitude for your work, and we wish you well. Congratulations, Todd.
Police Chief Todd Thomas: Thank you, I really appreciate it. Thank you for all the support that you’ve given us. It’s been a long eight years for everyone, all of us. Challenges that we never would have thought we would face and we faced it together, and this council supported the police department and its employees 100%.
1984, were you on Council? Probably. Exactly. [Note: I think he was talking to Alderperson William Siebers.]
So, I’ll quote FDR. FDR had three rules when he gave speeches. Be sincere, be short, be seated. Thank you for everything. It’s been a pleasure. I’ve gotten to work with the most amazing people. And those of you that have worked with the police department and the officers know, they’re really special. And it’s just been a blessing for me.
View full meeting details and video here:Â https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1064885&GUID=23157F67-0079-435B-BD93-2236F2BF0F43
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